According to the regulations in the 3GPP 29.232 protocol, in the case of mobile switch center (MSC) pool networking, a media gateway (MGW) is connected to multiple MSC servers. To connect to multiple MSC servers, a physical MGW needs to be divided into multiple virtual media gateways (VMGWs) that are controlled by separate MSC servers. In this case, the A interface circuits between MGW and base station controller (BSC) need to be included in separate VMGWs.
To share A interface circuits among multiple MSC servers, the MGW is responsible for allocating and releasing A interface circuits. That is, the mapping between A interface circuit and circuit information is stored in the MGW, and only the mapping between a BSC and the MGW is stored in a MSC server, where the circuit information includes a circuit identification code (CIC) and a termination identifier (TID) of an A interface circuit.
When receiving a call request from the BSC, the MSC server obtains an ID of the BSC that sends the call request, queries the stored mapping between BSC and MGW according to the ID of the BSC, and requests A interface circuits of the MGW corresponding to the BSC. Then, the MGW allocates or releases relevant A interface circuits for the MSC server according to the resource allocation or release request of the MSC server.
The prior art has at least the following disadvantages: The prior art proposes only a scheme for allocating or releasing A interface circuits through an MGW, but does not involve a technology for managing A interface circuits through the MGW.
In the existing technology, the protocol for managing A interface circuits is the Base Station System Application Part (BSSAP). The BSSAP protocol stack runs only in the BSCs and MSC servers. If the management of A interface circuits is implemented through the MGW, the MGW needs to support the BSSAP protocol stack, which is, however, carried on the Signaling Connection Control Part (SCCP) protocol. Therefore, to support the BSSAP protocol stack, the MGW needs to support the SCCP protocol. This increases the management cost and complexity of the MGW.